Szczepan Twardoch wins 2026 Nike Literary Award and readers' prize for war novel Null
Szczepan Twardoch won the 30th Nike Literary Award on Sunday at the University of Warsaw Library for his 2025 novel Null, securing both the main jury prize of 100,000 PLN and the readers' choice award.
Double victory in Warsaw
The jury of the 30th Nike Literary Award announced its verdict on 4 October 2026 during a ceremony at the University of Warsaw Library. Szczepan Twardoch received the main jury prize for his novel "Null", which was published in 2025 by the Marginesy publishing house. Alongside the main award, which carries a statuette sculpted by Gustaw Zemła and a cash prize of 100,000 PLN, Twardoch also secured the Nike Readers' Award voted on by readers of Gazeta Wyborcza, which includes a 10,000 PLN prize.
Twardoch had previously competed for the Nike award in 2013 with his novel "Morfina" and won the readers' award in 2017 for "Król". In 2025, his cumulative book sales passed one million copies on the Polish market. Addressing the audience at the Warsaw ceremony, jury chair Witold Bereś spoke about the literary approach taken in the book.
This is simply great literature. It is language devoid of political correctness. This is not a book only about war.
- Twardoch receives his first Nike nomination for Morfina
- Twardoch wins the Nike Readers' Award for Król
- Russia invades Ukraine, providing the context for the novel Null
- Marginesy publishes Null as Twardoch passes one million career sales in Poland
- Null wins both the 30th Nike jury award and the Nike Readers' Award
Frontline realities in Null
The narrative of "Null" centers on Koń, a Warsaw historian in his forties whose ancestors include Poles murdered in Volhynia. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Koń departed Poland to fight in the combat zone. The title refers to the frontline zero line, the immediate contact area where military engagements take place.
Accepting the award on stage in Warsaw, Twardoch described the personal significance of the project and addressed his motivations for writing the novel.
This is my most important book. This is not a novel written for any cause, it has no thesis, it fights for nothing. I wrote it to tell the truth, because that is what literature is for.
Genesis and boundary of fiction
The origins of the novel date back to literary essays Twardoch published in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Gazeta Wyborcza concerning the war in Ukraine. His German publisher, Rowohlt, initially proposed expanding those essays into a non-fiction book under the German title "Die Nulllinie". After struggling with the non-fiction structure, Twardoch switched to fiction, drawing directly on what he witnessed during his trips delivering aid and equipment to Ukrainian soldiers.
In the book's postscript, Twardoch noted that while the units and specific characters are fictionalized, the depictions adhere closely to the reality of the war. Fictional brigade designations were assigned to preserve fidelity to real military events without directly exposing specific active formations.
Shortlist and competition history
The Nike Literary Award was established in 1997 to recognize contemporary Polish literature, with a primary focus on novels. The final shortlist of seven books, announced in September 2026, featured Anna Bikont for "Nie koniec, nie początek. Powojenne wybory polskich Żydów", Dorota Grabek for "Zmartwychwstanki", Justyna Kulikowska for "Wnyki dla światła", Krzysztof Łapiński for "Najmądrzejszy. Biografia Sokratesa", Weronika Murek for "Urodziny", Zyta Rudzka for "Tylko durnie żyją do końca", and Twardoch for "Null".
The 2026 jury, headed by Bereś, included Anna Arno, Bogdan Białek, Andrzej Brzeziecki, Zbigniew Mentzel, Natasza Parzymies, Radosław Romaniuk, and Katarzyna Sawicka-Mierzyńska. Twardoch succeeds the 2025 laureate, Eliza Kącka, who won for her book "Wczoraj byłaś zła na zielono".
